The Arbiters
by Melodyofthesea77
Summary: Meet Symphony Night: sensitive, demigod and magician of the house of life. When her life is threatened, she turns to Skulduggery and Valkyrie for help. But when a figure from her past turns up at her house, wounded, her life will change forever.
1. Prologue

A tall figure struggled against the wind. Wobbling slightly, the figure fought against the snow towards familiar surroundings. He climbed the stone steps, past the metallic 12A on the small wall. He pressed the doorbell and leaned against the rail opposite the blue door. No one answered. The figure cursed, stating that Symphony couldn't have picked a better time to go on holiday. He moved over to the doorbell, still clutching his side. Gently, he pushed the doorbell to the side to reveal a small symbol. He put his hand against it and it glowed and disappeared. He then put his hand on the door handle and pushed the now unlocked door open. He stumbled in and grabbed a med kit from the kitchen then collapsed onto the couch. Grabbing the bandage he moved to stop the bleeding from the wound in his side.


	2. Chapter 1

2 weeks prior

Symphony Night was walking down downtown Warsaw, enjoying the view of the old houses and the shop windows, when all of a sudden she stopped. Her headache, previously manageable, had increased to new heights and suddenly she heard it.

"I'm going to be late!" said a voice in her head. Then another voice murmured something. Then another.

"Oh, hell," Symphony sighed and turned to walk to the bus stop. When she reached the blue door she reached in her bag to grab her keys when she stopped. Before her eyes flashed a vision of men in masks invading her home, beating her to the ground, killing her. She shuddered and looked around then quickly opened her door and walked in. She moved to the kitchen table and sat down. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through the contacts. Her finger stopped over "Skul" she hesitated, hovering over the call button, then pressed down.

A voice answered almost immediately, "Yes?"

"You have to come here, now. Otherwise I die," Symphony stated.

"Can't really argue with that, can I?" Skulduggery Pleasant hung up. Symphony sighed and stared at the door.

About an hour later, Valkyrie Cain and Skulduggery Pleasant arrived at 12 a. They climbed the stone steps and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, Symphony opened and pulled them inside. She looked genuinely scared. Skulduggery didn't beat around the bush, "Do you know who is trying to kill you?"

"No," Symphony replied, "But I suspect it's the same people who orchestrated the night of knives. I just had a vision of men killing me."

"A vision?" Skulduggery raised his façade eyebrow, "I thought your powers disappeared."

"Well, yes, I thought so too. But apparently they just went on hiatus,"

"Powers?" Valkyrie Cain wasn't keeping up.

"Symphony here is a sensitive," Skulduggery explained.

"Oh,"

After a while and one attack on Symphony's life, it was decided that Symphony should stay in the custody of the Arbiters until further notice. So now, she and Val were sitting on a sofa at Val's house, talking.

"So how did you meet Skulduggery?" the question stopped Symphony in her tracks. She frowned before answering, "We had a mutual acquaintance," she said the last word with a contempt in her voice.

"Who?" Valkyrie couldn't help but ask.

"Erskine Ravel, my ex housemate" the name made the conversation stall.


	3. Chapter 2

Present day

Symphony frowned as she felt something on her hand. She looked, just in time to see a symbol disappear from her palm. Her blood turned cold. Who could have deactivated her sigil? The only other person who could was dead. She was in the presence of the people who killed him. She frowned again and turned to the people in the room who were currently discussing (arguing) what was the easiest to kill an enemy. The tall dark-haired girl was insisting that it was decapitation, while the skeleton continued stating that clearly, fire was the best. Symphony sighed and turned to them.

"Someone is in my house," she told them. They turned and frowned.

"Are you sure? How do you know?" Skulduggery Pleasant's velvet voice filled the silence.

"Yes, I'm sure, my locking sigil was just deactivated."

"Where?"

"Poland. How many houses do you think I have?"

"Let's go. We might get some information from whoever is the intruder. For one, we might learn who is trying to kill you."

Symphony was about to tell him who could deactivate her sigil but she decided against it. She just hoped that if it was him, the Arbiters didn't attack on sight.

As Symphony climbed the familiar stairs, she couldn't help but wonder, why someone had disturbed the peace of the winter night. Then her eyes caught a splash of red on the brilliant white that surrounded them.

"Whoever this is, they're hurt," Skulduggery Pleasant stated, noticing the blood on the rail.

"If they're hurt, why would they break into Symphony's house? Why try and kill her?" Valkyrie Cain spoke for the first time in a while.

"They could just be searching for asylum," Symphony suggested, not wanting to voice her thoughts on the identity of the intruder.

"Let's find out, shall we?" Skulduggery Pleasant said in a humorous voice and pushed the door open.

No lights were on but Symphony clicked the switch on the wall. Then she heard a groan. It was quiet but Symphony had good ears. Apparently so did her companions because they turned towards the sound. The three of them advanced towards the living room to find a pale figure on the coach.

"Oh, my gods!" Symphony shouted as she ran over to the figure.

"Hey Symphony, long time no see," Erskine Ravel smiled a pained smile.

"Holy Hestia! What happened?" Symphony's concern for her injured visitor overrid her caution as she began frantically checking the deep wound that Ravel had clumsily tried to patch up. The detective duo stood by, frozen in shock. They just looked on in disbelief as Symphony fussed over Ravel's wound.

"You're dead. I watched you die," Skulduggery finally shook himself out of his shocked state.

"Did you mourn?" Ravel asked grimacing as Symphony started extracting the bullet from his wound with some tweezers she had taken from the med kit that lay on the table beside Ravel.

"Considering I'm the one who killed you, no," Skulduggery stated coldly, "Though technically it was the accelerator. Point is, your soul was literally consumed by a machine. You should be dead."

Ravel didn't reply, instead opting to draw his breath in pain as Symphony finished extracting the bullet. Her brow furrowed as she examined the wound further. Then she stood up and started walking to the kitchen to get something. Skulduggery stopped her.

"Why are you helping him?" he asked, "He betrayed us all."

"Please!" Ravel let out a strangled gasp, "I am not the one who betrayed you! I was replaced!"

"He could be lying," Skulduggery mused.

"Innocent until proven guilty," Symphony stated.

"How do we find the truth?"

"Saracen Rue."

"But…"

"Get Saracen Rue and get the hella out of my way!" Symphony snapped. She walked over to a cabinet in the kitchen. She hesitated then reached for the one with the padlock.

She touched the padlock and spoke a word in a language that none of the others recognised. The padlock disappeared. She opened the cabinet and started rummaging in it

"Please be here, I swear I never used all of them," she sighed in relief as she pulled out a scroll of what looked like papyrus.

"Why are you still here? Get Saracen Rue!" Symphony looked like she was about to snap Skulduggery's head off. He and Val retreated and walked out the door into the blizzard. Symphony and Ravel heard a bang as the door closed behind them. Symphony knelt down next to Ravel, unravelling the scroll. She studied the hieroglyphs inside, preparing herself for something.

"What are you doing? What is that? Are those hieroglyphs?" Ravel couldn't contain his curiosity.

"Promise you won't tell anybody. I'll explain everything later," Symphony pleaded as she continued to study the scroll. Ravel just shook his head in affirmation. He was so tired. Maybe he could just catch a few Zs. His eyes started closing.

"Hey! Stay with me!" Symphony noticed his eyelids closing. She finished studying the scroll. She took a deep breath and placed her hand on Ravel's chest. With her other hand, she still held the scroll. Then she started chanting in a language that Ravel didn't recognise. The hieroglyphs floated off the page and formed into one that floated right in front of Ravel's wound. He had a nagging sensation it meant to heal. But how on earth could he read hieroglyphs? How could Symphony? Her discipline was adept. It made no sense. And how the hieroglyphs healing him? Was this some kind of spell? As Symphony finished chanting, the papyrus turned into dust. Ravel's wound was healed. Colour returned to his face. She stood and stumbled. Ravel's fast reflexes returned and he caught her before she hit the floor.

"I'm fine," She insisted, "Just need a little water."

"You have a fever," Ravel stated matter-of-factly but he helped her to the kitchen table and gave her a glass of water. As soon as the water touched her lips, she straightened. Ravel could have sworn she was almost glowing. He didn't have time to ask her about it because at that moment he heard the door open again. Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain were back and they weren't alone. With them stood Saracen Rue, Dexter Vex and Tanith Low.

"Hey guys," Ravel couldn't hide his nervousness. After all Skulduggery had said, Ravel knew that he wasn't a well-liked figure.

"So it is you," Dexter said with a hint of distaste in his voice, "I thought you were dead."

"I'm just fine thanks," Ravel replied with his weariness clear in his voice. He was both tired and worried. At least he knew Symphony trusted him.

"How did you heal that wound?" Skulduggery would have raised an eyebrow if he could.

"It doesn't matter," she replied. She gave off a strong I don't want to talk about it vibe.

"Shall we begin?" Saracen Rue asked then not waiting for an answer he pulled up a chair and sat opposite Ravel.

"Begin your story."

Ravel took a deep breath, "7 years ago I was kidnapped by things that I call doppelgangers. They are able to perfectly mimic behaviour, looks and even memories. For 7 years I was trapped in a facility near here. About 2 years ago I was joined by two men: Ghastly Bespoke and Anton Shudder." The last statement generated gasps from the group. Ravel continued, "A few hours ago, I saw a window of opportunity and used it to escape. I was unable to take Ghastly and Anton with me but I figured if I escaped then I could later lead you back here. When I recognised Warsaw, I naturally came here. I deactivated the door locking sigil when I found nobody home and the rest you know."

Silence. The group stared at Ravel for a few seconds then turned to look at Saracen. Saracen looked up at the group and simply said, "It's the truth, all of it."

Symphony was the first to react. She barged forward and enveloped Ravel in a huge hug. The rest soon joined all except Tanith who just stood awkwardly to the side and Skulduggery whose grinning skull revealed no expression.


	4. Chapter 3

The next day Ravel awoke to familiar surroundings. Symphony had stationed him in his old room. He stretched and examined his side. Whatever mojo Symphony had used on him, it worked. Not even a scar was visible. He got up and dressed, then headed to the kitchen. Saracen, Dexter and Skulduggery were awake as well as Symphony who was flipping pancakes. She had made them blue for some reason.

"Hey, why the blue pancakes?" Ravel asked as he approached Symphony. Instead of replying she hugged him.

"What was that for?" Ravel laughed. When Symphony pulled away, he felt a pang in his gut. She smelled like freshly washed clothes and pancakes. She smelled like the house, or maybe the house smelled like her? Either way, to Ravel, she smelled like home. Was that why he liked her? He shook himself out of his thoughts and sat at the table.

There was a tension at the table. No one really quite knew how to talk to Ravel. They had been so hostile the night before and now, they needed to apologise. But the dead men weren't good with apologies. They were good with guns and fireballs and fights but not with apologies. Finally, Skulduggery took the first fire.

"I realise that last night I might have been… mean," he started.

"You told Symphony not to treat me," Ravel said with a poker face.

"Well yes, that was rude of me," Skulduggery tried to continue.

"Rude? You wanted me to bleed out on that couch!"

"Don't make this any harder then it already is!" Skulduggery got annoyed. There was a second of silence. Then the dam broke. Laughter filled the air. Four male voices and one female mixed into a tiny bubble of elation.

"What's going on?" Tanith asked as she and Valkyrie entered the kitchen area. They sat down and Symphony brought over the blue pancakes.

"My brother gave me this recipe," she grinned and sat down.

"You have a brother?" Ravel asked. As far as he knew, Symphony had no family except her mother who had died in the war.

"Half. On my father's side. His is currently studying in California with his girlfriend." Symphony acted like this was no big thing.

"So… the doppelgangers," Skulduggery brought the conversation around to the elephant in the room, "What do we do about them?"

"We fight," Symphony said without hesitation. She had a determined gleam in her eyes. No one hurt her friends and got away with it. Her companions looked at her. They had always seen her as a kind and gentle soul. Even Tanith, who only met her yesterday, had the feeling she was laid back, like one of those surfers: not bothered by anybody or anything, just waiting for the next wave. Those first, feeble impressions shattered. Only Ravel looked unsurprised. He knew that if she could, Symphony would avoid a fight, try to find the middle ground. But if you hurt her friends then she would discard all her pacifism and whip your butt. Besides, the seven years had changed her. She had that steel in her eyes he saw in the mirror. That look that told him that somehow, she was a veteran of war. He wasn't sure he liked this change.

"Thank you, General Eisenhower," Dexter replied sarcastically. His words didn't have the intended effect. Symphony choked on her pancakes then her head drooped.

"Symphony are you okay?" Ravel was surprised by her sudden change in mood.

"It's okay, it's just a friend told me that once, a dead friend," Symphony took a deep breath and sighed. Her mood affected everyone as they sat, eating in silence.

The rest of the day was spent on preparations. Symphony suggested that she should help Ravel remember his route, giving that she was a sensitive and she knew Warsaw. At which point Dexter asked why she didn't prove or disprove Ravel's story the night before. She explained that she didn't trust herself to be unbiased. Saracen was at least less biased. When they had a semi-solid location, Skulduggery started planning the attack on the facility.

"… and Dexter will be here," Skulduggery finished.

"What about me?" Symphony asked.

Skulduggery frowned; "I don't think you should come…" he started. Quick as a flash, Symphony pulled a dagger from god-knows-where and stabbed it into the map and the table. After a minute of short silence, Skulduggery stated, "You've just ruined your table, but I believe you've proved your point, you may come. Now please remove your knife from my map." She grinned and did as he asked. Ignoring the looks she was getting, she returned the knife to what Ravel realised was her pants. It looked like she was expecting an attack at any moment. And that metal looked unlike anything he had ever seen before. Symphony caught his eye and sent him a silent message: "later". Ravel frowned. This new Symphony worried him.

In the evening he walked over to her room and knocked. He hoped that this was a good time. For a second he wanted to walk away, say it was nothing. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what world Symphony had been mixed into. She carried a knife with her for heaven's sake! Even during the war, she was never armed. Why would she arm herself now? He was about to walk away when Symphony bid him enter and he realised that he needed to know. Not for his sake but for Symphony's. He walked in and saw Symphony sitting at her desk, reading a graphic novel. When she saw whom it was she put down her graphic novel and sighed, "Pull up a chair Erskine. This is one heck of a long story." A chill went down Ravel's spine. Symphony called him Ravel or roomie. Buddy if she was annoyed with him. But she only called him Erskine when the matter was serious.

"The Greek and Egyptian gods are real," Symphony stated.

"What?" Ravel asked. For a moment he considered if Symphony was pranking him. She had gone to greater lengths to prank him before. But the look on her face told him otherwise. Symphony could not keep her face straight if it was to save her life. And her face portrayed not a hint of a smile. She was deadly serious. She sighed and launched into an explanation of the Greek and Egyptian gods and how they couldn't fade and monsters and such. She told him about camp half-blood and how her father was Poseidon. She told him how she had helped her younger brother Percy to stop Olympus from falling. She told him how she found out she had pharaoh blood in her and how she helped the Kanes defeat Apophis. She told him about her journey on the Argo II. She actually cried when she told him about the death of her friend Jason, who had died while assisting her in restoring Apollo to his godhood. In the end, Ravel felt like his head might explode with new information but he was successfully up to date. He just had one more question:

"Why can't you tell everyone else this?"

"These two worlds weren't supposed to clash," Symphony stated. Ravel felt that the subject was closed. This was as much as he would learn today. He hugged his friend one more time and got up. He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.


	5. Chapter 4

The fight didn't last long. Ravel almost laughed at the ease with which the group took the facility. Symphony did most of the work. She put most of the doppelgangers to sleep but when there was too big of a group, she fought like a demon. Her style was completely unorthodox. Her dagger had turned out to be one of a pair and now she glided across halls, daggers twirling, destroying any obstacle in her path. They found the cell, Ghastly and Shudder were being held in and after freeing their comrades they started freeing the other prisoners. Among the prisoners was a teleporter and with his help, they planned to evacuate the facility. But Symphony was frowning. She closed her eyes and seemed to focus but it was hard to tell. Then she looked at Skulduggery,

"There are two people below us," she stated.

"Impossible," Skulduggery stated, "We found no stairs. We don't have the time to search the facility to find the entrance."

"I won't leave two people at the mercy of these monsters," Symphony insisted. Just then the floor shook and a cloud of dust lifted. Dexter had used his beams to create a hole in the floor. While Skulduggery berated Dexter for risking the floor collapsing under them, Ravel and Symphony examined the hole. They looked at each other and knew they had come to the same conclusion: it would take too long for any of the others too come to help them. Time was of the essence. Symphony jumped down without further hesitation. Ravel fully expected her to at least twist her ankle in the fall but she tucked and rolled. She stood, dusted herself and looked up at Ravel like nothing had happened. Ravel sighed and jumped after her, using the air to break his fall. He was about to light a flame but Symphony stopped him. She pointed to a faint glow, coming from a nearby cell. They walked over as fast as they dared and stopped at the frame. The cell had no door but inside there were two coffins. Machines frosted with their own coldness. Symphony walked over to one of them and brushed off the frost. Inside was a humanoid shape. Ravel froze. He knew that face. It was Hopeless. Symphony didn't notice Ravel's surprise and worked on unlocking the machine. It finally opened with a satisfying click. Symphony, still oblivious to the identity of the man walked over to the other machine and began working on the lock. Another click and the second prisoner was free. Symphony lifted him and put him on the ground to examine him. Ravel lifted Hopeless out of his machine and supported his unconscious body. He nearly dropped him however when he realised who Symphony was supporting: Robin Larrikin. She finally noticed Ravel's expression and raised an eyebrow.

"You know these guys?" she asked.

"Later," Ravel decided. She nodded and walked out, still supporting Larrikin, towards the hole in the ceiling. A few minutes later they were in the sanctuary.

China Sorrows furrowed her beautiful brow. People had just appeared out of nowhere and she needed answers. Then she saw a tall skeletal figure and sighed. Of course, Skulduggery Pleasant is involved. She walked over and froze. Erskine Ravel was standing in the group. He seemed to be supporting a familiar figure but China didn't pay any heed to that right now. She walked over to Ravel and punched him in the face. The punch took him by surprise and he fell to the ground, carrying the person he was supporting with him, but before China could deal any more damage, a woman stepped in front of Ravel shielding him with her own body. The woman's hands were inching towards daggers at her belt and China had no doubt that the woman could use them. Then the woman straightened and brushed her brown hair out of her eyes. As soon as the woman's sea green eyes met China's blues, China took a step back. She didn't know why she did it because this shorthaired woman definitely did not intimidate her. It was almost like a small voice at the back of her head was telling her to step back. The woman relaxed slightly and spoke in a low-pitched voice.

"So, the Supreme Mage Sorrows has graced us with her presence," the woman didn't care to mask her distaste, "It would be nice if she asked before she hit, however." The woman continued as she helped Ravel lift himself from the ground along with the man he was supporting. Only now did China realise that the man Ravel was supporting was Hopeless: a man who by all accounts was supposed to be dead. Then again, Ravel himself was supposed to be dead.

"I think I do not have all the information here," China stated calmly.

"Clearly!" the woman huffed.

"Let us discuss this in my chamber, while your friends get patched up," China decided, indicating the two unconscious men.

While Skulduggery and Valkyrie explained the whole situation to China the rest of the group just hung back, occasionally adding in what the duo forgot. The woman, whose name was Symphony Night, was twirling her dagger between her fingers. China found her intriguing. Upon finding out that Symphony was a sensitive, China had demanded to know why she didn't know about her. Symphony simply stated that she had come to the arbiters for help and not the Irish sanctuary. Skulduggery's interesting discovery brought China back to the present.

"When we did our little rescue mission, I noticed that some of the sigils on the walls were scratched out. I believe that someone on the inside sabotaged it." China tilted her head to one side and was about to reply when a barrage of information came to her through the world well, causing a headache. Symphony tilted her head and China could feel that quiet presence in her head again, helping her organise the new information and checking said information along the way.

"A lot of people have just turned into these doppelgangers. I think they needed to have people in custody to keep their shape. That's why they didn't kill them," China frowned. The group glanced at her but didn't seem surprised. China realised that Symphony was much more powerful then she looked. There was a quiet air of power around the woman.


	6. Chapter 5

Hopeless awoke to a flare of unnatural light. He was laying in a comfortable bed. When his eyes adjusted he saw a figure leaning over him, speaking his name. It took Hopeless a few seconds to recognise that voice. Ravel. He grinned at his friend and Ravel smiled back. Hopeless sat up and rubbed his temples.

"Why do I feel like I have the worst brain freeze ever?" Hopeless grinned. To his surprise, Ravel's face fell.

"You were frozen for … a long time," Ravel told him. Hopeless' grin vanished.

"How long?" he asked. Ravel sighed and gave him a sad look.

"Roughly 300 years." Hopeless blanched. He saw Larrikin on the bed next to him, rubbing his head and realised that he probably got the icicle treatment too. Hopeless looked at his surroundings. It all looked so different it gave him vertigo. He also felt a familiar discomfort. The feeling of not being comfortable in his own skin. As a shapeshifter he knew the feeling well.

"I think I need to throw up," Hopeless told him.

"I would hope not," a woman with short, brown hair walked over to him. She smiled and sat on the foot of his bed.

"Hopeless, this is Symphony," Ravel's smile returned.

"Have you finally found someone for you?" Hopeless teased and Symphony rolled her eyes. Hopeless wondered if he would ever get a normal life. Then he saw Ravel and Symphony look at him with kind smiles on their faces and he knew that at least he had friends with him. Gods, what a cheesy thought!

"I don't think it's cheesy at all!" Symphony grinned at him.

"You're a sensitive?" Hopeless frowned.

"Yup," She grinned then got up and started pacing the room. Hopeless noticed she had a lot of nervous energy. He also noticed Ghastly and Shudder on beds behind Larrikin. They looked fine but that still worried him. His head turned back to Symphony and he noticed the daggers at her sides. He saw a glint of bronze and his eyes flashed with recognition when he saw the blade that Symphony was now playing with. Celestial bronze. As soon as that thought formed in his head, Symphony nearly dropped her dagger. She turned and studied him.

"What symbol?" she asked. Ravel frowned but Hopeless grinned.

"The boar," he told her and she snorted. Not quite the reaction he was hoping for. Ravel looked at his friend and moved the curtains to one side so they could have a semi-private conversation. He then looked on in confusion as Symphony proceeded to fill Hopeless in on the details. Hopeless groaned when he heard that a twelve-year-old demigod had beaten his dad. When Ravel continued to look confused, Symphony explained that his friend was a demigod and that Hopeless' father was Ares, the god of war. Hopeless expected Ravel to be mad but, to his surprise, Ravel just made a good-natured complaint about the levels of trust and glossed over it like it was nothing. Symphony finished her summary of the demigod world events and started filling Hopeless in on the goings on of the sorcerer world. To Hopeless it was a little too much information but Symphony was speaking machine gun style so he couldn't get a word in edgewise. He was saved by Skulduggery who peeked in and after deciding it was okay pushed the curtain aside so to include the small group in the larger conversation. The raging debate was: where to set up? After all, most of them were practically homeless. After much debate it was Symphony, who finally proposed a novel idea:

"Maybe we could fix the midnight hotel?" she asked.

"Fix?" Shudder frowned.

"We kind of had a huge battle there," Valkyrie said guiltily, not meeting Shudder's eyes. Shudder didn't look too glad but after much debate, it was decided. Afterwards, Skulduggery, Valkyrie, Dexter, Saracen and Tanith left to locate the hotel and Symphony and Ravel stayed to watch over the recovering and get them up to speed. This proved easy in the case of Ghastly and Shudder but it was impossible to do with Hopeless and Larrikin. After a while, even Symphony gave up. After pacing, she finally fell asleep on a chair.

It took a while to get the midnight hotel in order. The rest of the small group officially became Arbiters. Even with all the people working on it, when they moved in, there were still a few kinks to work out. And they caused amusement to no end for Symphony. One day, she was walking down the corridor with Ravel, when they stumbled onto Dexter who had just finished taking a shower. They took one look at him and started laughing their heads off.

"What's wrong?" Dexter asked.

"You're a Smerf!" was the only thing Symphony managed. Dexter looked down at his hands to realize that that statement had some truth to it. His skin was, in fact, a bright shade of blue. Shudder came round the corner to find Symphony and Ravel rolling on the floor laughing, in front of a very blue Dexter. Shudder smiled, which was his version of rolling on the floor laughing and asked:

"I take it the shower is glitching?"

"How did you guess?" Dexter replied sarcastically and the two departed to fix the shower and restore Dexter to his regular skin tone while Symphony and Ravel went to tell the rest of the Arbiters. But by far, Symphony's favourite glitch was what she called the cat and dog incident. You see, that main staircase in the midnight hotel, that led to the bedrooms on the second floor, was opposite the door and next to the main downstairs corridor. This made it the perfect place to sit and observe the daily humdrum of the small world. Symphony and Ravel would sit there every morning and drink their coffee (Ravel) and hot cocoa (Symphony). One day they were sitting on the stairs when the flowerpot jumped up and started meowing. While they were guffawing, the footstool that sat in the hall also sat up and barked at the flowerpot. The two were too busy laughing to call Shudder to fix the glitch. Just then, Skulduggery walked through the front door. The flowerpot ran up his suit and sat on his head and the footstool circled his feet barking. Skulduggery just stood there, motionless with shock. Symphony and Ravel's redoubled laughter finally brought the rest to the scene. Shudder took care of the flowerpot first, catching it before it fell. He was about to do the footstool but it must have sensed the danger because it ran up the stairs and hid behind Symphony. That move melted her heart and she stopped Shudder from fixing the footstool. That is how Legs joined the gang.

For some time, the main on-going investigation was the doppelgangers but after a while, other matters began to call to the Arbiters' attention and they were forced to leave the case for the time being. They had anyway run up a wall. Apart from dealing with all sorts of wacky cases, the Arbiters also had to deal with living in the same house. This resulted in many stories and innuendos that they later laughed about. For example, one particularly hilarious moment happened right after a long stakeout. The Arbiters had returned to the midnight hotel at about 4 am. They only got 2 hours of sleep due to having an important meeting at 7. They were sitting in the kitchen/dining area and conference room. Saracen was the last one inside and he walked over to the cereal cabinet. No one really knew how the mistake happened or who was responsible but for some ungodly reason, the washing machine cube box ended up in the cereal cabinet and Saracen, who wasn't fully awake, pulled it out thinking it was cereal. He sat down with a bowl of milk full of packets of washing machine cubes. He took a spoon to his mouth then noticed the package on it. In his tired state, Saracen thought it was the surprise in the cereal.

"Hey Symphony, you missed a surprise," he told her, handing her the packet. Symphony, who was a little more awake, noticed what it was, and looked into Saracen's bowl. She then deadpanned:

"Saracen, you have more than one surprise in your milk." When the statement registered with the rest of the group, the whole kitchen busted out laughing at poor Saracen, who stared groggily into his bowl and announced that that was not cereal.


	7. Chapter 6

Ravel awoke Symphony.

"What is it?" she asked groggily as she rubbed her eyes.

"Someone or something has pulled the hotel off course. We don't know where we are." Symphony blinked as Ravel explained. She got up and walked over to the window. She froze. Right in front of her was Zeus's fist. She was in the woods surrounding camp. This wasn't good. The doorbell rang. Symphony answered the door and groaned. Before her was a grinning man with short hair and a DHL outfit.

"Hi cousin," he told her.

"I swear if this is a prank…" Symphony began.

"No prank," the man assured her, "Orders from above,"

"May I receive a reason or are we going in blind?" Symphony sighed.

"There is a threat that only your combined forces can face." He replied.

"Brilliant. You can't go into detail, can you?" she sighed.

"Nope," the man looked way too happy for giving bad news. Before anyone could say anything else, the man disappeared. Symphony sighed and closed that door, ignoring the looks she was getting. Hopeless looked at her and asked,

"Was that who I think it was?"

"The messenger himself," Symphony confirmed.

"Who's the messenger?" Skulduggery asked, "A teleporter?"

"A god, my cousin and Hopelesses uncle," Symphony told him and before he could ask she walked over to the bathroom and shut the door, leaving everyone to stare at Hopeless who quickly made his exit. Later in the morning, over a very uncomfortable breakfast, Symphony explained the world of gods and demigods. She told them where they were and recounted some of her adventures. They decided to go to camp right after breakfast. With Symphony leading the way they made their way through the forest with no encounters.

"Strange weather for Spain," Hopeless commented as they walked.

"We're not in Spain," Symphony told him, "I don't know if you'd care to remember but this camp moves, a lot. Over the last 300 years the centre of western culture has moved from Spain to America," she continued matter-of-factly.

"So where's Olympus now?" Hopeless asked.

"The 600th floor of the empire state building," Symphony replied and conversation halted. They had arrived. Before them stretched a valley with cabins, strawberry fields and an arena. In the distance, they noted a climbing wall with lava falling down its sides. A dozen or so kids were running around, doing various activities. They looked heavily armed. As the group walked out of the woodland, a few took notice and abandoned their activities to walk over to the group. Symphony was bombarded with greetings, hugs and questions. Finally, a centaur trotted over with a girl and a boy next to him. The girl had blond hair and grey eyes, while the boy had black hair and eyes like Symphony's. When the guy and Symphony saw each other, they run forward and embraced. Symphony then embraced the girl.

"Bro! How's college? How's New Rome?" Symphony asked the guy, momentarily forgetting the Arbiters.

"Symphony, is this your brother?" Ravel asked before the guy could reply.

"Yep! I would like you to meet the one and only Percy Jackson and his girlfriend Annabeth Chase," Symphony introduced the two teenagers, "Seaweed brain, wise girl, I would like you to meet the Arbiters, friends and team," Symphony grinned, finishing introductions.


	8. Chapter 7

No one really knew why the hotel had been detoured to CHB. There were many theories but in the end, no one had any idea what had prompted the gods to do such a thing. Symphony for one was glad that she didn't need to hide her family any longer. A few months later, Symphony was relaxing in the park with Percy and Annabeth when her phone rang. Due to her numerous connections, Symphony had a monster impervious phone, however because she was one of the few demigods who did, her phone was reserved for her contacts in the sorcerer world. She frowned at the unknown number but answered anyway.

"Hello Symphony," China's voice made Symphony furrow her brow.

"How the hell do _you _have this number?" Symphony asked, her voice as cold as ice. Percy and Annabeth frowned.

"It doesn't matter," China replied with her usual tone.

"So what matters more?" Symphony asked, "Look, we are not friends, I highly doubt you even consider Val or Skul friends. So you have a reason. Spit it out or leave me alone." Symphony didn't even try to hide the malice in her voice.

"Very well, no need to get testy," China purred but then her tone changed. It almost sounded like concern.

"I regret to inform you that the rest of your little detective agency has… vanished," Symphony froze and nearly missed the tell-tale beep, beep, beep of the caller disconnecting. Her hand dropped to her side, her expression blank. Percy and Annabeth walked over and asked what was wrong.

"The Arbiters, they've disappeared," was the only thing Symphony managed.

Billy-Ray Sanguine was having a decent day until Symphony Night dropped water on his head. He didn't know how she found him but clearly, it had something to do with her amazing abilities. And apparently, her idea of getting his attention was dropping water on his head and letting his prey get away.

"Aww, c'mon princess, I was just having some innocent fun!" Symphony raised an eyebrow, "Lucky for you, I'm not here to arrest you. I'm here to cash in on that favour you owe me from Manhattan," it was Sanguine's turn to raise an eyebrow. Then it hit him. The Arbiters. Symphony was searching for her team.

"You came to the right guy, doll," he told her, "I know where your team is,"

"I know you know," Symphony said unimpressed, "I read your mind before I stopped you from killing that poor man," she said this like someone might say: "I borrowed something from a friend," Billy-Ray's face fell.

"Then what on earth do you need my help for?" he asked, exasperated.

"I need you to help me save them," Symphony had started towards the exit. Sanguine sighed and followed. Sometimes he hated being so damn honourable.

A little later they were standing in front of Serpine's old castle.

"Why can't people leave this place alone?" Symphony complained as the two scaled the walls. Billy-Ray didn't answer. The truth is he didn't know. He didn't understand what villains liked about castles either. The fact that the kidnappers had settled in this place had one advantage, however. Sanguine had spent quite a while in this place when his father and he had planned their little revengers club and so he knew the place like the back of his hand. He and Symphony snuck in past the guards undetected but as they travelled deeper into the dungeons they knew they couldn't fight or sneak their way out the way they came. And that meant Sanguine had to burrow the Arbiters out two at a time. They would need a distraction. They were trying to construct a plan in harsh whispers when they heard shouts. Immediately they changed direction towards the commotion. When they arrived, they saw a strongly built man exiting a cell, laughing. Symphony's fists clenched and she took out her daggers.

"Go, I'll distract him," she told Sanguine. He didn't argue and in seconds he was gone. Symphony let her fury build up as she stepped out of the shadows and faced the tall man. Pain, his name was. During the war, he was Malevolent's top torturer. He had tortured many, Erskine Ravel among them. Symphony would know; she was the one who had rescued him. The sight of Ravel beaten and broken would haunt her for the rest of her days. She was shorter than him but she stood tall and proud. He stopped then laughed.

"So, yet again Symphony Night is here to rescue her friends. But you will fail this time. I have learnt from my mistakes,"

"Unlikely," Symphony told him, icy cold. She grinned then lowered into a fighting stance. She took a moment then smirked. Tanith was going to kill her but it felt like the right thing to say:

"Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough," she taunted and Pain lunged.

Hopeless leaned against his friend's shaking form as he tried to reassure Ravel with his hands quite literally tied behind his back. Seeing Pain had not been good for Ravel. He was shaking, with tears falling down his cheeks; clearly reliving those horrible months of physical and mental torture. Hopeless was letting Ravel lean on his body and was whispering words on encouragement while Skulduggery was glaring at the door as if he could beat up Pain by sheer force of will. Then they heard Pain laugh, "So, yet again Symphony Night is here to rescue her friends. But you will fail this time. I have learnt from my mistakes," The arbiters looked at each other in shock. Symphony? There was worry too though; how on earth was Symphony supposed to save them all? It sounded like she was alone. Then they heard her.

"Unlikely," her tone was icy, anger clear in her voice. After a few seconds, they heard her again but her tone had changed. It was mocking and they could tell she was smirking.

"Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough," she taunted and they could hear Pain lunging at her, the sounds of battle. Tanith looked outraged.

"She used my bloody catchphrase!" Tanith tried to sound outraged but her voice betrayed her elation. Just then they saw cracks in the ground and Billy-Ray Sanguine emerged from the floor, sunglasses on his eye-sockets and a smile on his lips.

"Greetings, ladies and gentlemen of the Arbiter corps. As much as you want to arrest me and I want to kill some of you," he sent a glare Valkyrie's way, "I come to help you in your current situation," He smiled.

"Why should we trust you?" Skulduggery asked.

"A very good question! You can trust me because I am a man of my word and of honour and I am in debt to that young girl fighting outside. Now if you don't mind we'd better get on with this; Symphony ain't gonna last forever." With that Sanguine kneeled forward to take Skulduggery and Valkyrie but Skulduggery stopped him.

"Take Ravel and Hopeless first," he said, nodding in the direction of the two men. Sanguine nodded and disappeared with the two. Within a few minutes, all the prisons were free outside the castle walls.

"Wait for a second," Sanguine told them, "I'm going back for your princess."

Symphony was holding her own very well but she was getting tired. Thankfully, Pain had stopped his minions from attacking her as well, so assured he was of his victory. Symphony was a demon with her daggers. She twirled and weaved and made non-lethal jabs. She could have ended the fight a long time ago but that was not the point. She was a distraction. Just as she was tiring she saw the telltale cracks beneath her feet. She moved and let Sanguine appear next to her.

"Ready to go?" He asked, grabbing her arm. She gently pushed him off and turned to Pain. She had one more thing to do before she could leave this place. She took a deep breath and let a torrent of her power towards Pain. Then she and Sanguine were gone, leaving to join the rest of the Arbiters outside.


End file.
